Make a great turtle diet for your little pet

The hardest thing for me, as a pet turtle owner, was discovering a good turtle diet. It was not too difficult to find out what is the proper turtle food for my pet. But that was not enough.

I like to eat and I know what food is good for me. But a good diet must limit some of the foods you like and introduce some you hate (like beans for me, I hate them).

Good turtle diet will include all proteins, carbs, minerals and vitamins your small pet needs to grow big and strong.

Diet for your pet is a variety of meat, plants and vegetables. You can also include some fruits but most people do not recommend it, since fruit is not really natural food for turtles. However, my friend's turtle loves peeled grapes, so I guess every turtle has its own favorites.

These numbers are just guidelines that you can work around, do not follow it too strictly. Young turtle will prefer more proteins so you will raise the percentage of commercial food and meats and lower the percentage of vegetarian food.

Although it sounds like it, it is not complicated at all. There are many general rules you can follow while feeding pet turtles.

First thing to take in consideration when planning what to feed your little aquatic pet with - is age of the pet.

• Older pet will eat more vegetation so a grown up turtle's diet will be consisted mostly out of plants.


• While your pet turtle is still young and developing, it will need more proteins than as a grown up. Therefore, while the turtle is young, the turtle diet will contain more meat. Young pet might even refuse to try plants at the beginning.

There is also commercial food to be included in turtle diet. Diet that consists only of commercial food will cost you much more than the one including different kinds of foods. In addition, that kind of turtle diet will not be good for your pet, since it will not be sufficient to keep it healthy and happy. Pellets cannot be the only food in turtle diet.

Please, do not feed your pet turtle with only one kind of commercial food or same greens every day. Turtles need variety of food that will provide all needed nutrients and it will get it from different kinds of food. The more various foods you feed it with, the more likely it is that the turtle will develop properly.

The pet is depending on you to give it all the nutrients it needs since in captivity it cannot get it itself. It is not only a question of pet?s happiness but health. Bad nutrition can cause many problems for your turtle.

Depending on what you feed your small pet with, I recommend including some vitamins and minerals in your pet turtle food.

The most important period will be the first year of turtle's life. It is very important that the turtle growth is gradual. If it starts growing too fast in very short time, you should consider feeding it a little bit less.

I need to say that I had this experience with my turtle and the reason was not just the amount of food but the kind of food I was giving him. I introduced my pet to a new commercial food that, after he tried it once, was definitely his favorite. It was actually a big, very expensive I must say, box of dried little fishes. Fortunately, I took him to the vet in time so after his advice, I just changed his diet a bit and everything was OK.